Detailed Description

The Set-ADAccountPassword cmdlet sets the password for a user, computer or service account.

The Identity parameter specifies the Active Directory account to modify.

You can identify an account by its distinguished name (DN), GUID, security identifier (SID) or security accounts manager (SAM) account name. You can also set the Identity parameter to an object variable such as $<localADAccountObject>, or you can pass an object through the pipeline to the Identity parameter. For example, you can use the Search-ADAccount cmdlet to retrieve an account object and then pass the object through the pipeline to the Set-ADAccountPassword cmdlet. Similarly, you can use Get-ADUser, Get-ADComputer, or Get-ADServiceAccount, for standalone MSAs, cmdlets to retrieve account objects that you can pass through the pipeline to this cmdlet.

Note: Group MSAs cannot set password since they are changed at predetermined intervals.

You must set the OldPassword and the NewPassword parameters to set the password unless you specify the Reset parameter. When you specify the Reset parameter, the password is set to the NewPassword value that you provide and the OldPassword parameter is not required.

For AD LDS environments, the Partition parameter must be specified except in the following two conditions:

-- The cmdlet is run from an Active Directory provider drive.-- A default naming context or partition is defined for the AD LDS environment. To specify a default naming context for an AD LDS environment, set the msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for the AD LDS instance.

Parameters

-AuthType<ADAuthType>

Specifies the authentication method to use. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

-- Negotiate or 0-- Basic or 1

The default authentication method is Negotiate.

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required for the Basic authentication method.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.AuthType.Negotiate

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Credential<PSCredential>

Specifies the user account credentials to use to perform this task. The default credentials are the credentials of the currently logged on user unless the cmdlet is run from an Active Directory PowerShell provider drive. If the cmdlet is run from such a provider drive, the account associated with the drive is the default.

To specify this parameter, you can type a user name, such as User1 or Domain01\User01 or you can specify a PSCredential object. If you specify a user name for this parameter, the cmdlet prompts for a password.

You can also create a PSCredential object by using a script or by using the Get-Credential cmdlet. You can then set the Credential parameter to the PSCredential object.

If the acting credentials do not have directory-level permission to perform the task, Active Directory PowerShell returns a terminating error.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Identity<ADAccount>

Specifies an Active Directory user object by providing one of the following property values. The identifier in parentheses is the LDAP display name for the attribute. The acceptable values for this parameter are:

The cmdlet searches the default naming context or partition to find the object. If two or more objects are found, the cmdlet returns a non-terminating error.

This parameter can also get this object through the pipeline or you can set this parameter to an object instance.

Aliases

none

Required?

true

Position?

1

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

True (ByValue)

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-NewPassword<SecureString>

Specifies a new password value. This value is stored as an encrypted string.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-OldPassword<SecureString>

Specifies the most recent password value. This value is processed as an encrypted string.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Partition<String>

Specifies the distinguished name of an Active Directory partition. The distinguished name must be one of the naming contexts on the current directory server. The cmdlet searches this partition to find the object defined by the Identity parameter.

In many cases, a default value will be used for the Partition parameter if no value is specified. The rules for determining the default value are given below. Note that rules listed first are evaluated first and once a default value can be determined, no further rules will be evaluated.

In AD DS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases:

-- If the Identity parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from this distinguished name.-- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from the current path in the drive. -- If none of the previous cases apply, the default value of Partition will be set to the default partition or naming context of the target domain.

In AD LDS environments, a default value for Partition will be set in the following cases:

-- If the Identity parameter is set to a distinguished name, the default value of is automatically generated from this distinguished name. -- If running cmdlets from an Active Directory provider drive, the default value of Partition is automatically generated from the current path in the drive. -- If the target AD LDS instance has a default naming context, the default value of Partition will be set to the default naming context. To specify a default naming context for an AD LDS environment, set the msDS-defaultNamingContext property of the Active Directory directory service agent (DSA) object (nTDSDSA) for the AD LDS instance. -- If none of the previous cases apply, the Partition parameter will not take any default value.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-PassThru

Returns an object representing the item with which you are working. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Reset

Specifies to reset the password on an account. When you use this parameter, you must set the NewPassword parameter. You do not need to specify the OldPassword parameter.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Server<String>

Specifies the Active Directory Domain Services instance to connect to, by providing one of the following values for a corresponding domain name or directory server. The service may be any of the following: Active Directory Lightweight Domain Services, Active Directory Domain Services or Active Directory Snapshot instance.

The default value for the Server parameter is determined by one of the following methods in the order that they are listed:

-- By using Server value from objects passed through the pipeline.-- By using the server information associated with the Active Directory PowerShell provider drive, when running under that drive.-- By using the domain of the computer running Windows PowerShell.

Aliases

none

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

none

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-Confirm

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

false

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

-WhatIf

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

Required?

false

Position?

named

Default Value

false

Accept Pipeline Input?

false

Accept Wildcard Characters?

false

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: -Verbose, -Debug, -ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -OutBuffer, and -OutVariable. For more information, see about_CommonParameters.

Inputs

The input type is the type of the objects that you can pipe to the cmdlet.